What a fantastic day all of the Bader Braves had on Saturday 23rd May with the Scottish Aero Club at Perth Airport.

We all woke to bright skies, very little cloud and best of all, virtually no wind; it had the makings of a super day. By 10.00 our Braves had started to gather buzzing with excitement as our loyal pilots Max, Syd and Stan lined up their aeroplanes ready for the days work. Stan provided a Cessna 172 courtesy of the Aviation Without Borders charity with whom we have long enjoyed an association whilst Syd flying his Piper Warrior and Max, Socata TB-9, have supported our event at Perth for each of the six years that we have been there.

At 10.30 precisely the first flight left quickly pursued by the second and third, each heading in different directions as our pilots gave the Braves a fantastic flight; not just a flip around the airfield but great trips seeking out the Braves homes or school, or just giving them an aerial view of the wonderful Perthshire (& beyond) scenery. Throughout the day destinations ranged far and wide; from Pitlochry & Loch Tummel to The Forth Bridge and from Montrose to St Andrews: a vast area, no matter where the Braves wanted to go our fantastic pilots seemed only too willing to please!!

As the day progressed more pilots arrived at the club and generously offered to join in and so, for part of the day, we had access to one or two other aircraft for a while including a very exciting gyrocopter which, whilst provided an enormously exciting prospect for some of the Braves, was viewed with great trepidation by many of the parents who struggled to comprehend how this rather odd looking machine could fly!!!

Whilst the youngsters waited for their turn to fly to come along our good friend Adrian, “Perthshire Mister Magic” came along to bamboozle us all with some great conjuring tricks helped by his troop of furry and feathery friends. Each of his puppets from Toby the Tortoise to Daisy the Duck (I am not sure that these are their actual names but, for me, they seem perfect!!) put a smile on so many young (and old!!) faces.

Flights continued over the lunch period into the afternoon; time for those who had their fill of excitement for the day to leave for home and as numbers began to dwindle we could sense that the weather was on the change; definitely a bit cooler, wind increasing and returning pilots warned that they could see “a front approaching from the west”. Not too many left to fly now though; it was now 17.00 and just three or four Braves still to go.

Two hours later and the job was done. Despite the warnings the weather had been kind to us and held off. The Braves had now all left for home and it was just loyal supporters and now exhausted pilots Syd and Max who sat down with us in the club house over a chocky biscuit or two and a big, steaming mug of brew. Each of us agreed that although it had been the longest ever Bader Braves day it most certainly ranked as one of the best.

Our sincerest thanks go to Syd, Max, Stan and the other pilots who chipped in with a flight on the day, to Mister Magic and to those guys behind the scenes without whom our fantastic day would not have happened A special big thank you also goes to Alison Carr at Radio Tays Cash for Kids and to Iain Waghorn who coordinated the flying for us and last but not least everyone at The Scottish Aero Club who once again made us all feel so welcome at Perth.